In Portraits of People We Would Never Otherwise Meet, William Dalrymple summarizes his twenty-five-year journey through India to explore the challenges faced by followers of traditional religions in contemporary India. For two months a year, a man in Kerala divides his time between his jobs as a prison guard and well digger and his calling as an incarnate deity.

A temple prostitute watches her two daughters die of AIDS after taking up a profession she considers sacred. A Jain nun recalls the pain of watching her closest friend ritually starve to death. These stories reveal the resilience of people in the face of modernity’s relentless onslaught, the enduring legacy of tradition, and the hope and honor that can be found even in the most unlikely places.